17
May

UFC Match in the Twitter Arena

Last week UFC president Dana White announced a Twitter competition that will give the fighters a chance to win a $5,000 bonus each quarter. Unlike other pro sports in which athletes are cautioned against and even fined for their use of social media, the Ultimate Fight Championship (UFC) is making a bold move in the direction of social media engagement.

The UFC Twitter bonus initiative will start on June 1 on which UFC and Strikeforce fighters will be divided into four categories based on Twitter followers. At the end of the quarter, three winners from each category will be awarded the $5,000 bonus based on who gained the most followers, who gained the highest percentage and who wrote the most creative tweets. The last category will be judged by Dana White. That will total $240,000 at the end of the calendar year that the UFC will be paying out.

Granted there are risks in encouraging sports professionals to increase their digital footprint and embrace social media but the gains will be far greater. With 350 fighters involved in this competition it will be interesting to see a before and after picture of Twitter stats for each profile. And at the end of the first quarter, Dana White will essentially be offering us a great case study. Most interesting would be to see if they report on the monetization of their social media efforts to help further solidify the fact that we all must learn how to bring social media into our business models.

What can your business model incorporate in terms of a Twitter incentive?